This guide will show you how to setup two connections that require DHCP.

You can extend this to 3, 4, 5, etc connections, as many as your motherboard can handle.

In this example, I demonstrate the use of a simple routing policy to assign one PC to use Optus Cable, and the other PC to use Telstra Cable.

Before I go forward, if you have Telstra Cable, be sure this works first.
Make sure you can connect to it via pfSense before proceeding.
pfSense has a bpalogin client for this, so you do NOT need to use the Telstra client program anymore.

Regarding system requirements : Because pfSense is aimed for the business class, the requirements are hefty compared to other solutions.

Its recommended that you get at least a PII/PIII, Duron, VIA C3, etc if you want all the features. Its also recommended that you have 128MB or more RAM. I’ve tried pfSense on a Pentium 150Mhz with 48MB RAM, but its quite sluggish.

In the case of Multi-WAN, it is better to get something with more RAM and grunt, with quality brand of network cards. (Used or 2nd hand Intel NICs are quite cheap, and perfect for this role).

If you have a WRAP or Soekris embedded board, you can use that, as pfSense has a version for this class of platform.

ALSO NOTE: I’ve used a CD-ROM/Floppy as the test platform for this guide.
Be aware that it is recommended that you use a hard disk.

If you want, you can use a Compact Flash card with CF to IDE adapter OR Use a Disk-On-Module (DOM)…But make sure you disable swap file by deleting the swap partition. (Do this when you install pfSense).

It is necessary to disable swap for DOMs and CF implementations due to their limited number of writes. (I think its about 10,000 before it dies).

Bare in mind, some functions rely on a swap partition, so they may not function properly without swap. If you don’t need those functions, don’t worry about it.

I’m using three network cards which are the same, this is why they will be labelled fxp0, 1, and 2. Remember, PCs start with 0, not 1.
I also needed to note down the MAC addresses of each card as a result.

WAN = This connects to your 1st ISP.

OPT1 = Optional 1 is renamed WAN2. This connects to your 2nd ISP.
(If you have more NICs, they’ll be called OPT2, 3, 4, etc. You can rename later when you login to pfSense via web browser…)

LAN = This connects to your PC or a switch for your network behind the firewall.

You can also set up a De-Militarised Zone (DMZ) for your servers, and such and then manually specify rules or forward ports for your servers, etc.
(If you need to forward ports, this is found in the NAT section, NOT in the Rules section).

Remember, this is NOT loadbalancing. This is useful if you want to consolidate multiple ISP connections into one router. This method is very simple and easy to work with as you don’t need to worry about VPN and such, like you do with loadbalancing.

Depending on your requirements and situation, you may find this a cheaper approach than buying a commercial router. Its up to you to assess if this is a viable solution for your needs.